Agenda item

The Director of Law and Democratic Services submitted a report introducing decisions arising from the Cabinet meeting held on 16^th March 2016.

74.      Update on Fire Combination and Fire-Police Collaboration

Councillor Brian Mattock, Deputy Leader of the Council, Vice-Chair of the Cabinet and Cabinet Member for Adult Health and Social Care responded to questions put by the Chair about the expected response times for incidents in Swindon following the formation of the new Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Resolved – That Minute 74 of the Cabinet be noted.

75.      Free Schools Update

Councillor Fionuala Foley, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, responded to questions put by the Chair, Councillors Carol Shelley and Des Moffatt on the following matters:

·         The applications for primary free schools and their capacity to meet current and future needs.

·         The ability to raise standards for those schools not achieving national performance targets.

·         Concern about the number of free school applications whilst there were current issues relating to (i) the need to improve a number of secondary school exam results and (ii) school spaces.

Resolved – That Minute 75 of the Cabinet be noted.

76.      Budget Management 2015/16

Resolved – That Minute 76 of the Cabinet be noted.

77.      Capital Programme Monitoring 3^rd Quarter 2015/16

Councillor Russell Holland, Cabinet Member for Finance, People and Performance, responded to questions put by the Chair about the effects of the changes to the Disabled Facilities Grant for 2016/17 and the removal of the Adult Social Care Capital grant.

Resolved – That Minute 77 of the Cabinet be noted.

78.      Treasury Strategy Statement 2016/17(Minute for Confirmation)

Resolved – That Minute 78 of the Cabinet be noted.

79.      Future of Swindon Borough Council Operated Nurseries

Councillor Fionuala Foley, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, responded to questions put by the Chair on the following matters:

·         The availability of local nurseries for parents unable to access transport links.

·         Budget savings and investment required to maintain the Children’s Nursery to an acceptable standard.

Resolved – That Minute 79 of the Cabinet be noted.

80.      Swindon Cycling Framework

Councillor Dale Heenan, Cabinet Member for Sustainability and Transport, responded to questions put by the Chair and Councillors Des Moffatt and Maureen Penny on the following matters:

·         The challenges of cycling from the outlying areas of Swindon to the Town Centre.

·         Concern about the lack of cycle paths in the rural areas of Swindon.

·         The small number of responses received to the Cycling Framework Consultation compared to the number of cyclists in Swindon.

·         The future plans for the development of a programme to connect schools to the cycle network.

Resolved – That Minute 80 of the Cabinet be noted.

81.      Regionalising Adoption Agencies

Councillor Fionuala Foley, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, responded to questions put by the Chair and Councillors Des Moffatt, Carol Shelley, Chris Watts, Steph Exell and Vera Tomlinson on the following matters:

·         The governance arrangements for the new Regional Adoption Agency.

·         Swindon Borough Council representation on the new Regional Adoption Agency.

·         The support offered to guardians post adoption.

·         Current practices and the requirement for change to Regional Adoption Agencies.

·         The impact of regionalisation on the speed of the adoption process.

·         The corporate management process and the responsibility for decision making.

·         The transition process from the current operation of adoption services to the operation of the Regional Adoption Agency.

·        The performance ratings of individual Adoption Agencies in the South East or the South West to help inform the Council’s decision as to which operating model to align itself with.

·        Maintaining the current high standards of delivery of the adoption service in the future.

·        The need for more detailed analysis of each agency to be included in the report.

Resolved – That Minute 81 of the Cabinet be noted.

82.      Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000

Councillor Brian Mattock, Deputy Leader of the Council, Vice-Chair of the Cabinet and Cabinet Member for Adult Health and Social Care responded to questions put by the Chair and Councillors Des Moffatt and Chris Watts on the following matters:

·         The surveillance activities undertaken by the Council in accordance with the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 200 with particular reference to dog fouling.

·         Fly tipping issues and the measures in place to tackle residents’ concerns.

·         The procedural advice offered by the Council to individuals about how they can be represented at interviews with Council Enforcement Officers.

Resolved – That Minute 82 of the Cabinet be noted.

It was agreed that information requested by individual members during the course of the Committee’s consideration of the Cabinet decisions should be forwarded to the Committee Clerk for distribution to Scrutiny Committee members.